Microsoft Surface Pro vs. 2012 MacBook Air (11-inch)

In selling the Surface Pro, Microsoft’s marketing team has a big challenge. The new tablet is essentially an Ultrabook in a tablet’s body. But most customers are going to look at it and think “iPad competitor.” We already compared Surface Pro to the iPad, but perhaps a more appropriate comparison is to the MacBook Air. Let’s see how their specs – and other features – compare.

Weight

Display

Surface Pro’s display is an inch smaller, but it’s much sharper. It’s possible Apple will upgrade its MacBooks Airs to Retina Displays within the next year or two, but for now only above-average resolution is offered.

Cameras

Starting price

The 64 GB Surface rings up at US$100 cheaper than the 64 GB MacBook Air. But remember that its physical keyboard will add (at least) an extra $120 to that.

Intangibles

Surface Pro ships with a stylus pen. This helps to navigate through the vast majority of Windows apps that weren’t designed for touch. You can also connect a mouse for a more traditional PC experience.

Apple nailed the trackpad in a way that other laptop makers haven’t been able to match. The trackpads on Surface’s optional keyboards are notably sub-par. Fortunately, it has a touchscreen to lessen the blow.

We’re also looking at two different operating systems here: Windows 8 Pro for Surface, and Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion for the Air. Both platforms have their loyal fans, but Windows’ dominant market share gives it the advantage in sheer volume of available software.

Wrap-up

Surface Pro comes out of this matchup looking a lot better than it did against the iPad. As a tablet, it’s beefy, expensive, and has crappy battery life. When compared to a laptop, it holds its own in all of those categories.

Surface Pro is for customers who want the power of a laptop with some of the perks of a tablet. It’s versatile, but it isn’t better than competitors at being a tablet (at least in the sense we’ve come to expect). It fares better as a laptop, but it also has big sacrifices ... like the fact that you can’t use it on your lap (at least not with its keyboard accessory).

If Microsoft communicates to customers that Surface is the coolest, most versatile laptop ever made, it has a chance to make a splash. If Redmond pitches it a tablet, they might have trouble. It will be fascinating to see how this plays out in the market.